


When Can I See You Again?

by kythen



Series: pictures of you, pictures of me [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dorks being dorks in love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 12:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8578909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kythen/pseuds/kythen
Summary: Long distance phone calls and unexpected birthday gifts.Kuroo misses Sawamura already.





	

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUROO CAT!!
> 
> -AGGRESSIVELY POPS SANMA-

_"Hey. We won."_

_"I heard about it."_

_"From who? I thought I was the only cat you were in contact with."_

_"From Hinata, who heard it from Kozume way earlier than I'm hearing it from you now."_

_"Aw, Sawamura, are you mad about it?"_

_"..."_

_"Are you really mad about it? I'm—"_

_"That's not it. It's just that it's kind of past midnight now and I..."_

_"Sleepy already?"_

_"No, um. I wanted to wish you a happy birthday before it passed."_

_"Oh._ Oh. _Now, who did you hear that from?"_

_"Kozume. Again."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"...you know, it's probably still the 17th of November somewhere in the world."_

_"Seriously?"_

_"Seriously."_

A laugh and then, _"Happy Birthday, Kuroo."_

Kuroo smiles, a spot in his chest going tight, blooming with warmth as he says, "Thanks, Sawamura."

\---

"You told him." Kuroo grins, watching as Kenma shoves his DS in his bag and changes into his practice uniform in record time before he roots around for his DS again.

Kenma looks mildly disgruntled and Kuroo isn't sure if it's because he had to put down his game or if it's because of Kuroo. "Told who what?" Kenma asks, checking the time on his phone before he resumes his game.

There is less than an hour to go before practice starts and Kuroo finds himself checking his phone too, half-hoping to see Sawamura's name on the screen, even though they had spent the whole of last night talking. On a normal night, Kuroo could have lasted until sunrise just listening to Sawamura's voice on the other side. But the fatigue from yesterday's matches had caught up with him and Sawamura had noticed, firmly telling Kuroo to put the phone down before he fell asleep on the line. Kuroo had refused, insisting on talking for just a while longer, but Sawamura was right and the last thing Kuroo remembers before passing out is Sawamura telling him so.

The memory of Sawamura's voice, low and amused in his ear, sends a shudder down Kuroo's spine, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake that soaks into his whole body. He feels exhilarated, ready to run rounds around school even without being asked to, over-full with brimming energy. He feels _loved_ from his fingertips to his toes, like the world had colluded to give him a birthday present, everything falling perfectly into place on a day eighteen years after he first entered the world. And he thinks, even if it is the day after his birthday, all that birthday luck is going to spill over to today and make it just as great as yesterday had been. He knows it.

"You told Sawamura it was my birthday," Kuroo clarifies, crossing his arms over the back of the chair, leering down at Kenma as Kenma sinks cross-legged onto the floor to concentrate on his game.

"I told Shouyou."

"Who probably told the whole team, which includes Sawamura." Kuroo's grin softens into a smile. "Thanks, Kenma."

Kenma makes a sound that could have been anything from "No problem." to "Gross." and Kuroo leaves him to finish his game in the bit of time they have left before practice.

Kuroo rests his chin on the chair's backrest, bringing his phone up to his face and switching between screens idly. He wants to talk to Sawamura but it would probably be cut short given that they both have volleyball practice around this time of the day. Sawamura probably wouldn't even answer his phone and Kuroo has a vision of Sawamura chasing his flock out of the clubroom and into the gym for practice. No, Kuroo mentally corrects himself, given their enthusiasm, the bunch of them would probably already be there in the gym, running warmup laps without waiting for the rest of them to arrive.

Either way, Sawamura would get angry at them or just sort of resigned because he has had almost a year to get used to them and Kuroo chuckles to himself, remembering all the times he heard Sawamura's voice roar through the gym. It is a different sort of voice from the one Kuroo gets on the phone, even though it comes close when Kuroo riles him up one too many times. Phone Sawamura's voice had been softer, tinted with embarrassment the first time they started calling each other. But when Kuroo started teasing him, Sawamura teased back more often than he got angry about it, matching Kuroo word for word, growing louder and bolder, his laughter ringing out clear through the phone connection.

Kuroo loves it because it feels like a side of Sawamura that is all his, especially when they've been talking for hours into the night and Sawamura sounds like he's just about to fall asleep, his voice drowsy, tender in a way he doesn't realise as he tells Kuroo goodnight.

Kuroo misses him.

This had all started in summer when Kuroo had pushed and Sawamura had pulled and they had somehow fallen into this thing called love before either of them knew what was going on. But now that summer is over and the training camps have all passed, Sawamura is back in Miyagi while Kuroo is still here in Tokyo and there are three hundred and five kilometres between there and here separating them.

Kuroo sighs, resting his cheek on the backrest and ignoring the wary look Kenma shoots his way. Talking to Sawamura is all well and good but he wants to see Sawamura too and maybe touch him a bit, like the one time he managed to coax Sawamura out of his classroom in the dead of night and into another classroom much further away from everyone else.

His phone vibrates and Kuroo brings it up to his face, lighting up when he sees Sawamura's name on the screen, right on cue. It's a message and Kuroo swipes at it excitedly, taking at least three tries before he manages to open it. The first item is a picture and as it loads, Kuroo yelps, dropping his phone, catching his phone, and almost falling sideways off the chair in the process.

The resulting noise draws the attention of everyone in the clubroom, which is something Kuroo would rather avoid right now when it feels like his face is on fire and his knees are caught painfully against the sides of the backrest, the only things keeping him from slipping off and toppling to the ground. His phone is safe, both hands wrapped tight around it, and Kuroo glances at it before making the split-second decision to make a break for it.

"I'll be right back," Kuroo tells the room as he slides sideways off the chair and onto the floor, getting up nonchalantly like that was how he got up from chairs all the time, and legging it out of the clubroom.

Outside, Kuroo rounds a corner of the building and then another corner, finding the most secluded spot on the ground level and keeping his back to the wall as he looks at his phone again. His fingers are shaking as he swipes at his screen and heat rushes into his head as he looks at the picture blown up on his screen.

It is a photo of Sawamura with his hands catching the bottom of his shirt and pulling it up to his chest, captured right as he was taking off his shirt. He isn't looking into the camera, his gaze directed at something offscreen, his eyes curious and his mouth open, forming a word. The photo cuts off below his knees but it shows more of his legs than Kuroo has ever seen, his thighs bare and boxers-clad. It takes Kuroo a while to tear his eyes away from the photo, lingering far too long on all that exposed skin, and when he finally does, he sees that it comes with a caption that reads:

**"Happy belated birthday, Kuroo ☆〜（ゝ。∂）"**

Kuroo feels light-headed, warmth stirring in the pit of his stomach and pooling downwards. He drops down into a squat, clamping his legs together and willing himself not to look at his phone again. Practice starts in about half an hour but Kuroo isn't going to make it at this rate, not when he's still sneaking glances despite himself and his heart is pounding like he's already been through an entire day of volleyball practice.

Kuroo has always known that Sawamura is attractive—it's one of the many, many reasons why Kuroo had fallen for him—but being reminded of it so vividly after all that time away from Sawamura hits him hard. In all this time they've been together, Sawamura has never sent him anything like this—or any pictures of him at all, now that he thinks of it.

His phone vibrates again and Kuroo jumps as Sawamura's name appears on the screen. He goes dry-mouthed as he remembers well-curved muscles and all that _skin_ , his hands fumbling to pick up the call. "Hello—"

"DELETE THAT PHOTO. RIGHT NOW." Sawamura's voice explodes through the receiver and straight into Kuroo's ear.

Kuroo hisses and holds the phone away from his ear, putting it back tentatively just in time to hear, _"Aw, Daichi, let your boyfriend live a little."_ from a laughing voice in the background

"How about letting me live, Suga?" Kuroo hears Sawamura mutter, his voice muffled. "Hello, Kuroo?" Sawamura says in a more reasonable volume this time. He sounds like he's speaking through clenched teeth, his voice forcibly calm as he continues, "Whatever you just got, delete it. Don't even open it."

"I, ah, umm," Kuroo fumbles, trying to think of a way to tell Sawamura that he doesn't want to and he would like to keep the photo, maybe even set it as his wallpaper please. But he doesn't think that would go over well with Sawamura now and he tries to stall for time as his brain starts to reboot very slowly.

"Suga got ahold of my phone and he took and sent that picture without telling me," Sawamura explains, his voice coloured with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry."

"I, uh," Kuroo clears his throat as his brain starts ticking again. "Don't be. It's a very nice picture?"

"What?"

"I mean..." Kuroo's mind blanks out and he goes with the only thought left lingering in his head, "Can I keep it?"

" _What?_ No!" Sawamura yells into the phone and Kuroo winces at the sudden spike in volume. He droops, opening his mouth to make his case one more time when Sawamura mutters, "It's so embarrassing."

Kuroo straightens up again, easing his back against the wall as he grins into the phone. "I mean, if you're embarrassed about it I could send you a picture of me. Just as embarrassing as the one you sent me."

"No thank you," Sawamura replies curtly and Kuroo snickers.

"So does that mean I can keep it?" he tries again hopefully.

The line goes silent for a moment and Kuroo holds his breath, listening for Sawamura. He is still there, given that the screen is still lit up with his name and there is ambient noise in the background coming from the Karasuno clubroom. Then Kuroo hears a soft sigh and he exhales with him, his lips curving up into a smile as Sawamura gives in, "Fine."

Kuroo hums, pleased, adjusting the phone against his ear now that he's sure Sawamura won't yell at him again. "Come to think of it, I don't have a proper picture of you. And you don't have a proper picture of me?"

"You can get one off social media."

"That's not it. I want a proper picture of you. Not one that everyone and their mother has seen on the Internet."

"Is that why you want that picture?" Sawamura asks and Kuroo can hear the confusion in his voice.

"No," Kuroo says fondly. It's kind of cute how Sawamura doesn't know how attractive he is. "That one's for viewing purposes."

"What kind of..." Sawamura falters midway and Kuroo grins as he hears the gears in his head click. "Kuroo!"

"No takebacks. You okay-ed it and I'm keeping it," Kuroo says singsong. "Anyway, I have to go for practice now so I'll speak to you later." He blows a kiss into the phone and he hears Sawamura huff on the other side, exasperated, right before the line goes dead.

Kuroo trots into practice five minutes late and he runs the extra laps Nekomata-sensei assigns to him willingly, clearing them in a huge burst of energy. When he steps onto court with the rest of the members, he is grinning so widely that Shibayama looks nervous and Kenma gives him the stink eye whenever he sets the ball to him.

His good mood doesn't disappear all through practice, keeping his form clean and sharp and giving his spikes an extra edge as he slams them straight home. Kenma almost refuses to walk home with him that evening, his face scrunched up as Kuroo catches him by his bag before he can leave the clubroom.

"Do I even want to know what happened before practice?" Kenma asks him, fishing his phone out from his bag as they set off for the station.

"Something good," Kuroo hums, copying Kenma and pulling his phone out of his bag. There is a notification from Sawamura waiting for him and Kuroo's heart leaps as he opens it.

It is another picture of Sawamura, showing much less skin than the previous one, and a laugh bubbles up in Kuroo's throat as he looks at it. Sawamura is wearing his uniform properly this time, a scarf wrapped around his neck and his bag on his shoulder, his smile awkward as he looks into the camera. The photo is blurry and the lighting is bad, the glow from a nearby streetlamp catching on one side of Sawamura's face more than the other. There is a caption accompanying it this time too, which reads:

**"You said you didn't have any photos of me so here's one."**

**"So you don't have to look at the other one all the time."**

**"Actually don't look at it at all."**

**"In fact just delete it already."**

"Oh my god." Kuroo ducks his head, shaking with laughter.

He sends back:

**"Don't worry I'll look at both of them ;)"**

**"Thanks Sawamura ilu <3"**

And he gets in return:

**"The next time I see you I swear I'm going to delete that photo."**

"The next time" sends a thrill of emotion through Kuroo. It sounds like a promise, one that Kuroo can't wait to be fulfilled and he types out quickly:

**"I'd like to see you try ;)"**

**"Can't wait to see you too, Sawamura"**

_Soon,_ Kuroo thinks as his phone buzzes in his hand and he glances back at it.

 **"Soon,"**  reads Sawamura's message, echoing Kuroo's thoughts as if he had read his mind all the way from Miyagi.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> This... was so rushed but at least I made it in time for Kuroo's birthday! \o/
> 
> Also I can never figure out what format I want to use for chat logs...
> 
> Find me here: [tumblr](http://kythen.tumblr.com) / [twitter](http://twitter.com/catcrowcalls)
> 
> EDIT: [DARKSSTARS](http://archiveofourown.org/users/DarksStars) GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL TO GIVE US [THE VERY PICTURE OF DAICHI KUROO RECEIVED](http://darksstars.tumblr.com/post/153711324570/it-is-a-photo-of-sawamura-with-his-hands-catching)


End file.
